Selena Gomez Gives Emotional Speech At American Music Awards: Watch

After stepping onstage to receive her statue for Pop/Rock Female Artist at Sunday’s (November 20) American Music Awards, an emotional Selena Gomez gave some absolute real talk that addressed the problems in her personal life in recent years. She also made reference to her strikingly raw 2014 AMAs performance of “The Heart Wants What It Wants,” a song that addresses her troubled past relationship with Justin Bieber.

“In 2014, this stage was actually the first time that I was authentically one-hundred percent honest with all of you,” Gomez said, her voice shaking. “I think it’s safe to say that most of you know a lot of my life, whether I liked it or not. And I had to stop, ’cause I had everything and I was absolutely broken inside.”

It was a startling moment for Selena, who canceled the final dates of her Revival Tour this past summer — something that she attributed to anxiety, panic attacks and depression stemming from her previous lupus diagnosis.

“I’m not trying to get validation, nor do I need it anymore,” Gomez said at the AMAs. “All I can say from the bottom of my heart is that I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to share what I love every single day with people that I love. And I have to say thank you so much to my fans, because you guys are so damn loyal and I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”